More than a dozen soldiers killed, several reported missing after a group of fighters launch attack in Soum province.

More than a dozen soldiers have been killed in a “major attack” by “terrorist armed groups” in northern Burkina Faso, the army said, adding that it could be the deadliest ever against the armed forces.

With other soldiers still missing, the death toll could pass 20, several security sources said late on Monday.

“In the early morning, the military detachment of the Koutougou department in Soum province was the target of a major attack by armed terrorist groups,” said a statement from the general staff.

“A provisional report states that more than a dozen soldiers were killed, and several were wounded.”

The assailants used heavy weapons and burned a large portion of the camp and material, a security source told AFP news agency.

“In response to this barbaric attack, a large air and ground operation led to the neutralisation of several assailants,” the general staff said without elaborating.

The military operations, including air raids, reportedly killed “several” fighters, the military said.

The identity of the attackers or their affiliation was not disclosed. 

The impoverished Sahel state of Burkina Faso has been battling a rising wave of armed violence over the last four years which began in the north but has since spread to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.

The heaviest armed attack against Burkina Faso’s army to date killed 12 soldiers at Nassoumbou, also in Soum province, in December 2016.

More than 40 fighters onboard pick-up trucks and on motorcycles laid assault to a military post close to the Mali border.

Overnight on Thursday, armed fighters also raided a village in the restive north, killing 15 people, plundering and burning shops, a regional governor said.

Most attacks in the former French colony are attributed to the Ansarul Islam group, which emerged near the Mali border in December 2016, and to the JNIM (Group to Support Islam and Muslims), which has sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.

Those groups are believed to be responsible for about 500 deaths since 2015. Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou has been attacked three times.

Former colonial ruler France has deployed 4,500 troops in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces flush out armed fighters.

Burkina Faso has also joined four other Sahel nations (Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) in an initiative aimed at creating a joint 5,000-troop anti-terror force, also backed by France.

Burkina Faso, a country of roughly 20 million people, belongs to the world’s 10 poorest nations, according to the United Nations.

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